Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Technology is
advancing by the nanosecond, sweeping us into the tide of change. New gizmos
and gadgets are radically transforming our lives. Electronic devices are our
closest companions today. Wherever we go, the network follows. Social networks
in the virtual world are overshadowing reality. We have no time to look at or
speak to each other, though we tweet and text eternally. Recent research in
Birmingham Business School (UK) shows that frequent posters of selfie photos or
self-portraits on social networks alienate those close to them, thus weakening
supportive human bonds. Is interaction between people and lifeless gadgets
becoming more important than connections between human beings? Are we placing
more value on technology and prepared to offer less to each other?

Rapid strides in
technology improves our lives and offers hope for a better tomorrow. While
scientific advances can have a backlash, technology can also help us find new
remedies. Infections resistant to antibiotics, for example, are a matter of
growing concern. But a new gene-editing system developed by scientists in MIT
promises to selectively kill bacteria carrying harmful genes that cause
antibiotic resistance and disease. Human
technology interferes with fragile ecosystems. This can trigger floods, landslides
and other disasters. But technology is also helping concerned people join hands
and volunteer for rescue work. It’s up to us to choose how to use technology.

In the good or bad
old days, people cared and looked out for each other. Everyone cultivated their
neighbours, colleagues and members of their communities. These people were a
priceless social support network; sharing information and lending a sympathetic
hand in times of need. Apartment dwellers in our metros now give murderous looks
if you smile at them. Run out of sugar? Why disturb dragons next-door, when you
can order grocery on-line and get doorstep delivery? Searching for an unfamiliar
address? Locals can send you on wild goose chases. Why bother for random oafs,
when the magical technology of Google maps lies in the palm of your hand? Jobs
are no longer places where people grow roots, and colleagues become lifelong
friends. The rat-race is everything, and our hunger to acquire expensive
gadgets drives us.

High-tech
playthings are radically altering our perceptions. They create the illusion of
being connected, while isolating us. We all have thousands of ‘friends’ on social
networking sites. But how many do we actually know beyond fleeting virtual
contacts? Would we really bother to do more than click a mouse for each-other? When
my father passed away last year, members of a local internet-based network of
women professionals sent their condolences via sms and e-mails. Though we have
met many times in real life also, only one of them personally met me. Social
media is a delightfully convenient way to make us feel righteous and uplifted,
without getting involved. All we have to do to demonstrate our concern is click
the ‘like’ button or forward some e-mail, before we move on to the next cause
of the moment. Meanwhile, one wonders about all those dazzling social lives on
Facebook. If they really were enjoying life eternally, would they have so much
time for Facebook?

Technology is a neutral
tool in itself. What we can get from it, depends upon how we choose to use it.
Social media can make us indifferent and even dehumanize us. As a wise person
said, people are meant to be loved, and things are meant to be used. Much of
today’s troubles arise because we love things and use people. But weren’t enough
people callous and self-absorbed even in the technology-free past? If we want to,
we can also use technology to draw people closer and increase intimacy. That’s
what my school friend did, when she made a long internet phone call from the
other side of the planet. Those words of solace from a friend who genuinely
cared, compensated for the many who had only beeps and pings to spare.

Thanks to
technology, you don’t have to be consistently helpful, caring or jovial any
more to have a social life. Witty and enlightened conversation? It’s simpler to
post selfies with your tongue sticking out and attract hundreds of appreciative
‘likes’ from virtual ‘friends’. Cocooned in an illusion of popularity, we are
busy clicking, tweeting, pinging and beeping. We won’t notice if the man
walking next to us on the street gets mugged or mowed down by a bus. People
have been known to get run over by trains and cars, while they were busy on
their cell phones. We have never been so constantly connected, and never so
alone.

The virtual
world is distorting our lives in the most surprising ways. Before we jump to
blame corrupting western influences and praise our own culture, let’s make a
reality check. According to recent news reports, a Bareilly college student
decided that a woman from Kerala whom he met on Facebook, was better suited than
his real parents to be his ‘mother’. The lady electronically transferred
Rs22,000 into his account, and the young man used it to go and stay with her.

If you think this is a crazy isolated
incident, think again. Indian marriages are routinely made not in heaven, but
in matrimonial portals. Educated young
Indians are too busy checking WhatsApp and Viber to compose an attractive and
relevant profile. If they don’t care to write a few meaningful sentences about
themselves, one can only imagine how they will treat their future partners and
marriages. Everyone knows that Indian men lag behind orang-utans in the
behaviour and intellect departments. Today’s tech-savvy Indian ladies are
striving to outshine men in every way. Here are a few exact quotes (including
bad grammar etc.) from actual profiles of professionally qualified young Indian
women on marriage websites:

Brevity is the soul of wit for this 24-year-old
woman doctor, whose complete bio note reads; ”i like France. I like saudi
arabia.i like to watch movies”.

The woman who
writes this one-liner, is refreshingly honest: “I am a Fun Loving Person who
don't prefer to think much before doing anything.”

Another
emancipated young lady writes this sparkling one-liner to define her
personality: “I love to do shopping, gossiping, eating, watching latest movies.”
Such profiles are a dime-a-dozen, making one wonder how many understand the
importance of marriage in fulfilling the human need for intimacy and emotional
support. A healthy marriage can beat the stresses of today’s hectic lifestyle
by binding two equal partners in a caring and nurturing relationship. But can such
technology-dazed young people spare the effort and attention needed to build a
healthy understanding with others? Relationships today are being made and
trashed with sms, tweets and Facebook status updates. Can such a shallow
approach enable people to seriously deal with life’s problems?

Will future generations be able to strike the
right balance between isolation and connectivity? Many toddlers in middle class
Indian families are hooked on to shiny, noisy gadgets. Parents boast how kids can
operate laptops before learning to speak sentences. Even underprivileged domestic helpers use cell
phones to amuse their children, while going about their chores. Such children tend
to mimic the behaviour of characters in cartoons and video games, and confuse
the imaginary world of electronic sounds and flashing images with reality. Children
are spending more time viewing screens, than interacting with other children.
This hampers the growth of their human relationships, and affects their development
into responsible adults. Busy making money and keeping up with the twitterati,
parents have little time to draw their children close and find out what is
going on in their lives.

News today
travels at the speed of light. Images of bomb blasts, beheadings, epidemics and
war are served every morning with our breakfast. Technology thus interweaves violence
into our daily lives. Are violent TV programmes and video games behind today’s
culture of blood and mayhem? Or is the issue more complex? Electronic images
aren’t monsters empowered to corrupt normal humans into killing machines.
Well-produced TV programmes can educate and spread positive values while entertaining
children. Video games can develop children’s motor skills and alertness,
prevent them from feeling bored and lonely, and falling into bad company.
Violence on screens is only part of a larger problem which makes children today
more aggressive. Rather than policing children, adults can proactively guide
them to make the right choices. And leading by example is the best way. As parents,
we can try to spend more quality time understanding and engaging our children,
instead of posting selfies and status updates.

We don’t yet
live in a world of unfeeling robots. Even when we surf the net or watch TV, the
content has been created by humans, and is meant to interest other humans. We
may connect with electronic signals to social networking sites in cyberspace.
But we exchange texts and images with real people, even if they are not
physically before us. Die-hard technology freaks haven’t yet completely forsaken
human connections. Those cell phone calls and messages are made to other
humans. On-line game players may spend hours in imaginary worlds. But they
interact with fellow gamers there, and together they influence those worlds.
Most LAN, WAN, and internet activity still needs human inputs although signals
are transmitted by machines.

The future may
change with advances in automation and artificial intelligence. Intelligent
machines are already learning to pilot planes and cars, babysit children and prepare
food. Someday, machines may fuel the main thrust to our progress. Robots could
replace human friends, bosses, children and lovers. Robots could program
themselves to evolve intelligence and abilities superior to humans, rendering
humanity useless and powerless. They could turn into monsters out to
exterminate their original human creators.

Such terrifying
scenarios could, but need not necessarily translate into reality. Humanity can
stay on the right track if we do not forsake our morals and principles in order
to get ahead. Progress and ethics do not have to be mutually exclusive. Moral
people need not be impractical dreamers. And crooked means need not be the only
path to solid achievements. Striking the right balance and showing concern for
our fellow human beings can be one route to improving our lives.

We have every
right to try to fill our brief lives with joy. Technology opens up multiple worlds,
adding fun and excitement to our existence. These worlds can be closely linked
to reality, such as groups of former school and college mates. These worlds may
be imaginary and fantastic, such as gaming and TV shows. Whichever options we
choose to explore, we can gain new information and perspectives, and also
simply enjoy ourselves. Learning, being productive and having fun need not be
contradictory. Technology can broaden our perceptions in countless ways, helping
unleash our creative potential. The best ideas and innovations are most likely
to thrive when we have some liberty to explore and play with new concepts and
experiences.

Today’s technology
constantly swamps us with information. The noise and confusion can overwhelm
us. We need to think clearly and choose how to best use our time and resources.
When faced with conflicting options, we need to evade loud but misguiding
voices vying for our attention. We must cultivate healthy scepticism and not
believe everything we see and hear in cyberspace. Once we do that, technology
can offer wonderful rewards.

By overcoming
our self-centeredness, we can use technology to understand others, their lives
and thought processes. Understanding others is about listening carefully to
what they have to say, and analysing its significance. This helps us to be
better parents, employees, bosses and spouses. We will also know how to
persuade others to our way of thinking. This isn’t only about goody-goody
altruism. If we can learn how other people think, the world can be ours. Ad and
marketing men are already using social media to identify markets, and figure
out the most appealing and convincing approach to sell Mt Everest. Terrorists
are using social media to coordinate and plan attacks, and spread fear among
the populace. Who do we want to be?

Technology can
help us understand others and be more innovative and effective in whatever we
choose to do. It’s up to us to sustain our own principles. As Isaac Asimov
rightly said, technology is but a neutral tool at our command. If knowledge can
create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

This well-crafted tale examines the essence of what it means to be a family. The author explores the exquisite beauty and human flaws of parental love. Where does sibling rivalry make way for deep loyalties?

How different are we from other creatures, who also have their own distinctive personalities and thought processes? What are the deeper significances of being human? Incisive yet tempered with gentle humour, this Booker-shortlisted novel probes the connections among all sentient beings.

Rosemary, an American college student, seems yet another intelligent but socially awkward youngster. Her brushes with the law and getting into scrapes with wayward companions, her references to her trying-hard-to-appear-normal family do not initially unsettle us. Indeed the author succeeds in making us smile, and even laugh. But they create the preamble for some startling revelations.

“My parents persisted in pretending we were a close-knit family, a family who enjoyed a good heart-to-heart, a family who turned to each other in times of trial. In light of my two missing siblings, this was an astonishing triumph of wishful thinking; I could almost admire it. At the same time, I am very clear in my own mind. We were never that family.”

As is true of many families, antagonism in Rosemary’s family “comes wrapped in layers of code, sideways feints, full deniability.” Their efforts to maintain peace make us smile in recognition. “No more politics, Grandma Donna had said as a permanent new rule, since we wouldn’t agree to disagree and all of us had access to cutlery.”

Rosemary’s psychologist father turns out to be a propagator of “science’s excesses, like cloning or whisking up a bunch of genes to make your own animal.” “Was my father kind to animals? I thought so as a child, but I knew less about the lives of lab rats then.”

Rosemary’s father makes his family part of an already dubious and discredited experiment. He raises Rosemary along with an adopted sister named Fern, ostensibly to compare and contrast their developing abilities. Rosemary’s childhood world is ripped apart with the sudden disappearance of Fern. Only in page 99 is the truth finally revealed.

Fern is a chimpanzee. While her mother regresses into mourning, her older brother Lowell no longer believes that their parents’ love was unconditional. “He’d been told to care for Fern as a sister. He’d done so, only to see her cast from the family.”

Lowell nurses deep resentment and finally leaves home for good to seek his sister Fern, and champion the cause of mistreated animals. Rosemary realises that she “had been valuable only in the context of my sister.” One day, she was the subject of study.
“The next, I was just a little girl, strange in her way, but of no scientific interest to anyone.”

Rosemary finally leaves behind the ignominy of her ‘chimpanzee girl’ past when she enters a far-off university. Her roommate Scully echoes her sentiments when she confides, “You know how everything seems so normal when you’re growing up, and then comes the moment when you realise that your whole family is nuts.”

Are humans truly superior to other animals? “Dad’s experiments suggested that contrary to our metaphors, humans are much more imitative than the other apes... Human children overimitate, reproducing each step (in a puzzle) regardless of its necessity.

There is some reason why, now that it’s our behaviour, being slavishly imitative is superior to being thoughtful and efficient, but I forget exactly what that reason is.” There’s a hilarious reference to humans’ capability to govern themselves. “The only way to make sense of the United States Congress, my father told me once, is to view it as a two-hundred-year-long primate study. He didn’t live to see the ongoing revolution in our thinking regarding nonhuman animal cognition. But he wasn’t wrong about Congress.”

Rosemary observes that every time we humans announce that “here is the thing that makes us unique — our featherless bipedality, our tool-using, our language — some other species comes along to snatch it away.”

This novel is memorable for raising far-reaching questions, for daring us to push the boundaries, and reconsider our sense of being ‘superior’ human beings. All the characters, including chimpanzee Fern, are portrayed with compassion. The author’s sense of humour makes this a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Some passages discussing the failings of humans, references to scientific laboratories, farms and slaughterhouses, the indignation at those who profit from the misery of animals do weigh heavy and can come across as propaganda. “In 2004, Jacques Derrida said that a change was under way. Torture damages the inflicter as well as the inflicted.

It’s no coincidence that one of the Abu Ghraib torturers came to the military directly from a job as a chicken processor.” While this enhances the overall impact of the message the author intends to convey, it also makes us conscious that there is indeed a message which sometimes overshadows the narrative.

Saturday, November 08, 2014

Call for entries for the Photo Exhibition on UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India from January 9th to 11th, 2015 at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore

After the great success of the five Editions of seminars , two editions of our photo exhibitions and the publication of the book ‘The Great Outdoors’, Essen Communications is organising a Photo Exhibition on UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India from January 9th to 11th, 2015 at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore.

The proposed photo exhibition will showcase an array of more than 120 photographs on World Heritage Sites by photographers, heritage buffs and various Tourism Boards. The event will be attended by travel agents, tour operators adventure enthusiasts, photographic fraternity, expatriates, corporate executives, educational institutions, stakeholders in tourism and the public.

List of UNESCO Heritage Sites in India is furnished below for reference. (For further details refer to the website on unesco.org)

About Me

I'm a former banker. Tired of managing money for others and not making much for myself, I quit and took to writing. I still don't have money, but it now seems less important. My fantasy/adventure novel for younger readers, Riddle of the Seventh Stone, is published by Young Zubaan. I've also authored Rabindranath Tagore: the Renaissance Man (Puffin Lives). My short fiction has most recently been accepted into A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Stories (Marshall Cavendish, Singapore), Behind the Shadows (Stories from Africa and Asia), The Killer App and other paranormal stories (Penguin), Music of the Stars and other love stories (Scholastic),Bad Moon Rising;The Puffin Book of Mystery Stories, Diwali Stories (Scholastic), The New Anthem:The Subcontinent in it Own Words (Tranquebar), Temenos (Central Michigan University), Apocalypse (Northeastern Illinois University), Urban Voice and Hobart.
I have been a Views columnist with Bangalore Mirror, and regularly contribute to Deccan Herald and other mainstream publications . I am Fiction Editor with Kitaab International. I live in Bangalore, India, with my computer and my family.

interviews

Click on image to know more

Going Home in the Rain and Other Stories by Monideepa Sahu

In this collection of short stories, strangers waiting at a bus stop take off on a magical journey. Going home in the rain can mean taking unlikely detours. A mother and son’s tour through a royal city becomes a journey of rediscovering each other. A traditional painter pours his life’s blood into his art. A lovely young mother proves herself to be beyond sweetness and light. Food becomes an instrument of torture in ‘Breakfast.’ A princess without a nose or a kingdom finds unexpected allies in the aftermath of a nuclear winter. Everyday situations and people reveal extraordinary facets. These radiant images range from warm and humane to poignant and chilling. They reveal the whimsy and playfulness, the raw edges, the heartbreak, and all things in-between that comprise the human condition.

‘A classic story teller’ SHASHI DESHPANDE

“Monideepa Sahu constructs her stories on strong, clear lines, building character, detail and mood, giving in the end, a glimpse of life.” USHA KR

Reviews of Going Home in the Rain

This wonderfully insightful biography, rich in anecdotes and little-known facts, brings alive this legendary figure to contemporary readers. Monideepa Sahu vividly recounts Rabindranth’s experiences at school that helped to formulate his vision of Shantiniketan. She also traces the evolution of his poetry from schoolboy rhymes in dog-eared notebooks to universally loved poetry, prose, novels and short stories.Click on the image to know more

Riddle of the Seventh Stone

Rishabh the rat and Shashee the spider are quite happy with the way they are: rummaging around in Venkat Thatha's wonderful, musty, dusty, rare herbs shop. Until, that is, they stumble upon a magical powder and find themselves transformed into human children.It’s not easy being a kid! There’s school and homework and wearing clothes and – yuk! – having to use soap… but even worse, their home is under threat from an evil moneylender known as the Shark. Can Rishabh solve the cryptic clues that lead to King Kempe Gowda’s fabulous treasure before the Shark can get to it? Will the vermin survive Ajji’s herbal pesticide attack? Will Shashee be able to spin her way out of this tangled web of intrigue? With the help off other children, friendly cockroaches, cheeky mosquitoes and a very Big Bandicoot, they set out of prove that no problem is too big even for the smallest of creatures. A 166 page novel best for readers in Std. 5th and above. Click on the picture to buy in India. The books is also on amazon.com and the publisher, Zubaan books, will ship to any country. Links below.

A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Stories

My story among 25 short stories by young and prizewinning Asian writers from 15 countries: Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the UAE, Guyana, UK, USA and Australia. Edited by Prof Mohammad Quayum. Click on the photo to buy.

Music of the Stars and other love stories

A cool new anthology from Scholastic NovaMusic of the Stars and other Love Stories is an anthology of diverse, beautifully-written love stories that cover a range of themes and styles. From inter-galactic romances to magic realism to coming-of-age love stories this diverse collection contains contributions from various popular writers of young adult literature : *Aditya Bidikar *Anil Menon *Bikram Ghosh *Diksha Basu *Kenny Deroi Basumatary *Monideepa Sahu *Payal Dhar *Rasik Chopra *Salil Chaturvedi *Tharun James Jimani *Trisha Ray .

THE NEW ANTHEM:the subcontinent in its own words

My short story in a cross border collection by writers from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. South Asia first found its English voice in literature and in song in the nineteenth century. It changed and morphed over two hundred years so that it now boasts of as many registers as there are languages and dialects within its geographical frontiers.From Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie and Raj Kamal Jha to Amit Chaudhuri, Altaf Tyrewala, Padma Vishwanathan and Tabish Khair, this book anthologises 23 major writers of fiction who, with their original narrative styles, have reinterpreted the region s turbulent history at both personal and national levels.The New Anthem confirms that many of the most brilliant storytellers of world literature were born in the Indian subcontinent. Ahmede Hussain weaves the anthology together to make it a testimony to the brilliance of south Asian fiction.Click on the photo to buy at attractive discounts.

The Killer App and other paranormal stories

Gripping, haunting, uncanny, bizarre-12 paranormal stories to chill the heart.A wildly popular app that feeds on hatred; a trek that literally brings out the beast in man; a luxury resort you don t want to visit on a new-moon night; a swimming pool with a deadly secret.Murdering ghosts, enchanted amulets, a haunted medical school, an uncle with a resemblance to a vengeful lion... all these bring the paranormal uncomfortably close.These fiendishly unnerving tales by best-selling authors David Hair, Ranjit Lal, Deepa Agarwal,and others. My story is about a haunted medical school.

Africa-Asia anthology

An anthology of contemporary African and Asian short stories selected and edited from hundreds of submission by award winning authors Rohini Chowdhury and Zukiswa Wanner. The title, Behind the Shadows, is from one of the short stories in the collection by writer Tasneem Basha. The collection also includes Penguin-shortlisted author Isabella Morris; Caine Prize-shortlisted writer Lauri Kubuitsile; renowned Singaporean Young Artist Award recipient, author and poet, Felix Cheong; and emerging Indian writers Rumjhum Biswas, Monideepa Sahu, and Sucharita Dutta-Asane.Click on the photo to get the book at Amazon.com

Sports stories, Scholastic

My story in an exciting new collection. Should Sabina participate in the track events at school and risk her conservative dad's displeasure? Enter the kingdom of the King of the River. Click on the photo to order

The Puffin Book of Mystery Stories

My story in a chilling, edgy collection for young people.This anthology includes Satyajit Ray, Payal Dhar, Anshumani Ruddra, Sonja Chandrachud, Poile Sengupta some of India s best storytellers and tales guaranteed to keep you awake through the night. Click on the image to buy at attractive discounts

The Scholastic Diwali Stories collection

Diwali sparkles on in this collection contaiing a story of mine. Also check out the Scholastic Eid and Christmas Stories collections. Click on the photo to buy.

Ripples: stories by Indian women writers

my story in this fresh new collection. Click on the image to read reviews and buy at attractive discounts.